Idaho mother of missing children refuses to waive extradition from Kauai

Updated: 3:35 p.m. Friday

Kauai Police Chief Todd Raybuck declined to comment on whether Idaho police had spoken to Lori Vallow while she was in Kauai police custody.

Vallow is accused of desertion in the disappearance of her two children, 7-year-old Joshua “J.J.” Vallow and 17-year-old Tylee Ryan. Her defense lawyer Dan Hempey alleged in a court hearing earlier today that Idaho police talked to Vallow without her attorney present.

At a news conference with the Kauai Police Department and the Kauai prosecuting attorney after today’s hearing, Raybuck said Vallow had been arrested by police without incident Thursday from her Princeville home and taken to the main police headquarters and held at the cell block.

She was transferred by state deputy sheriffs to the Kauai Community Correctional Center after the hearing in which she declined to waive extradition hearing.

Kauai Prosecutor Justin Kollar stressed that his office is not litigating the merits of the case, merely to handle her extradition from Kauai to Idaho where authorities have filed charges of two counts of felony desertion of a child, misdemeanor charges of resisting and obstructing an officer, solicitation of a crime and contempt.

“We’re not the lead on this case. We’re here if they call upon us,” Kollar said.

He said that the purpose of the extradition hearing, set for March 2, will be to identify Vallow as the person named on the warrant.

“The only thing she can contest is her identification and the legality of the arrest,” Kollar said.

Once the Idaho governor’s warrant is received, Idaho police will be able to take her into their custody. He said authorities have up to 90 days to secure the governor’s warrant.

Raybuck said Kauai police have received no order that Vallow’s husband, Chad Daybell, is part of the investigation or that it is necessary to place him under arrest, so he is free to “move about as he wishes.”

“We have no local charges or concerns here on Kauai,” he said.

He said the last sightings of the children were on the mainland, and there have been no sightings on Kauai.

“We are hoping against hope that Tylee and J.J. will be reunited with other family members,” Kollar said, a sentiment also expressed by Raybuck.

Updated: 2:20 p.m. Friday

A Kauai Circuit judge confirmed Lori Vallow’s bail at $5 million today during a court appearance in which the Idaho mother of two missing children declined to waive her extradition hearing.

The judge set the extradition hearing for March 2 at 9 a.m.

Vallow appeared in Circuit Court with her husband, Chad Daybell, sitting in the gallery.

The Kauai Police Department plan to hold a news conference at 3 p.m. today to discuss Vallow’s arrest.

Kauai police arrested Lori Norene Vallow in Princeville Thursday after prosecutors in Madison County, Idaho, charged her with two counts of felony desertion of a child as well as misdemeanor charges of resisting and obstructing an officer, solicitation of a crime and contempt.

The complaint alleges Vallow abandoned her two children — 7-year-old Joshua “J.J.” Vallow and 17-year-old Tylee Ryan — delayed law enforcement’s attempts to locate her children, and encouraged another individual to delay law enforcement attempts to locate her children.

The complaint also claims Vallow disobeyed a court order to physically produce her children to authorities in Idaho.

She is being held in lieu of $5 million bail bond pending extradition to Idaho.

Desertion of a child carries a penalty of up to 14 years in prison. Vallow’s children were last seen in September 2019.

The Rexburg Police Department was contacted by the Gilbert, Arizona, Police Department on Nov. 25 about a missing child described as J.J. Vallow.

A police affidavit indicated the child’s grandmother had contacted the Gilbert Police Department to conduct a welfare check on her grandson.

During the investigation, Rexburg police discovered Vallow’s daughter was also missing.

When police asked Lori Vallow about the whereabouts of her children, police said she lied.

The police affidavit said a woman described as Lori’s friend was asked by both Lori Vallow and her new husband, Daybell, to tell police JJ Vallow was with her but the friend declined to tell police that.

Police said the couple left Rexburg on the night of Nov. 26.

The police affidavit noted Vallow and Daybell flew to Kauai from Los Angeles on Dec. 1 and were staying in a condominium on Kauai.

Police also said the couple married on Nov. 5 on Kauai, about two weeks after the death of Daybell’s then-wife, Tammy Daybell, died on Oct. 19.

Her cause of death was originally ruled as natural causes. But a subsequent investigation by the Fremont County Sheriff’s Office determined her death “may be suspicious.”

Tammy Daybell’s body was exhumed and the sheriff’s office is still awaiting laboratory results from her autopsy, according to Sheriff Len Humphries Friday.

Police said there has been no sightings of the children on Kauai.

Law enforcement received a tip that they spotted Vallow and Daybell on Maui on Feb. 16.

The affidavit indicated Daybell received at least $430,000 in life insurance proceeds upon the death of his wife, Tammy.

Previous coverage:

Kauai police Thursday arrested an Idaho woman whose two children have been missing since September.

Lori Vallow, 46, also known as Lori Daybell, was arrested in Princeville, Kauai, around 2:30 p.m. on a warrant issued by Madison County in Idaho and is in Kauai Police Department’s cellblock with a bail of $5 million.

Vallow failed to comply with a court order to produce her two children — Tylee Ryan, 17, and Joshua “J.J.” Vallow, 7 — to authorities in Madison County on Jan. 30. Kauai police presented the court order to Vallow Jan. 25.

She has since been charged with two felony counts of desertion, nonsupport of dependent children, resisting or obstructing officers, criminal solicitation to commit a crime and contempt of court.

“First of all, we wish to thank the public for the massive outpouring of concern regarding this case,” said Kauai Chief of Police Todd G. Raybuck. “We also want to thank everyone for their patience while investigators worked diligently to comprehensively gather everything they needed in order to obtain this arrest warrant.”

Rexburg Police Department has been conducting an investigation on the matter and in December sought assistance from the Kauai Police Department to locate Vallow and her husband Chad Daybell, on Kauai.

Daybell was not arrested.

Vallow will be attending a hearing on Kauai at a date yet to be determined and can fight her extradition to Idaho. Kauai police said it will most likely be Friday morning. Kauai police will hold a press conference at KPD’s headquarters in Lihue at 2 p.m. tomorrow.

Her children were last seen in Idaho, and there is no indication that they are on Kauai. Currently, there are no criminal charges against Vallow on Kauai.

Police in Rexburg, Idaho, have said they “strongly believe that Joshua and Tylee’s lives are in danger.”

Police have said Lori Vallow and her new husband Chad Daybell have lied about the children’s whereabouts and even about their very existence, with Chad Daybell allegedly telling one person that Lori Vallow had no kids, and Lori Vallow allegedly telling another person that her daughter had died more than a year earlier.

The tangled case spans multiple states and includes investigations into three separate deaths. Lori Vallow’s estranged husband, Charles Vallow, was shot and killed in Phoenix in July by Lori’s brother, Alex Cox. Cox, who claimed the shooting was in self-defense, died of unknown causes in December.

In August, Lori Vallow moved her family to Idaho. In October, Chad Daybell’s wife Tammy Daybell died of what her obituary said was natural causes. When Chad Daybell married Lori Vallow just two weeks after Tammy’s death, law enforcement became suspicious and ultimately had Tammy Daybell’s remains exhumed.

The test results on Tammy Daybell’s remains and on Alex Cox have not yet been released.

Lori Vallow’s attorney, Sean Bartholick of Rexburg, Idaho, did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment.

The case also involves rumors of a cult. Lori Vallow reportedly believes she is “a god assigned to carry out the work of the 144,000 at Christ’s second coming in July 2020,” according to divorce documents Charles Vallow filed before his death. Chad Daybell has written several apocalyptic novels based loosely on Mormon religious theology. Both were involved in a group that promotes preparedness for the biblical end-times.

Police questioned Daybell and Vallow about the missing kids in late November, and the couple left town before police returned the next day.

Court documents for Lori Vallow by Honolulu Star-Advertiser on Scribd

The Associated Press contributed to this report.